Keith

English

Etymology

• As a Scottish surname, from the placename in Moray, Scotland, from Scottish Gaelic Chèith, Cèith, meaning "wood" or "from the battleground," which is probably borrowed from a Brythonic/Pictish word meaning "wood", or a forest, from Proto-Brythonic *koɨd.
• As a German surname, from Middle High German kit (“sprout, offspring”) (compare kint).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kiːθ/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iːθ

Proper noun

Keith (countable and uncountable, plural Keiths)

1. (countable) A Scottish surname.
2. (countable) A male given name transferred from the surname.
3. A placename.
   1. A town in Moray council area, Scotland.
   2. A town in south-east South Australia.
   3. An unincorporated community in Catoosa County, Georgia, United States.
   4. An unincorporated community in Noble County, Ohio, United States.
   5. An unincorporated community and coal town in Boone County, West Virginia, United States.
   6. A ghost town in Lincoln, Forest County, Wisconsin, United States.

Quotations

• 1815, Sir Walter Scott, The Lord of the Isles:

  Behind them, screened in sheltering wood,
  The gallant Keith, Lord Marshal, stood:
  His men-at-arms bear mace and lance,
  And plumes that wave, and helms that glance.

• 2005, Andrew L. Brown, Overcoming Adversity: Your Dreams Matter., →ISBN, page 35:

  My middle name, Keith, is music to my ears. It's like jazz on a cool summer night. My very closest family members call me Keith for short.

Derived terms

• Keith County

Anagrams

• kithe

Cebuano

Etymology

From English Keith, probably from Celtic.

Proper noun

Keith

1. a male given name from English [in turn from the Celtic languages]